Judge: Attorney misappropriated $3.5 million from elderly
doctor

A State Bar Court hearing judge has recommended disbarment
for a San Francisco Bay Area attorney found to have committed what was the
single largest misappropriation in the Office of Chief Trial Counsel’s recent
memory.

State Bar Court Judge Lucy Armendariz found Wade Anthony Robertson culpable of
four counts of misconduct for a phony investment scheme in which he
misappropriated $3.5 million from an elderly man. The disbarment must be
approved by the California Supreme Court before it goes into effect. Meanwhile,
Armendariz ordered Robertson enrolled involuntarily inactive.

In her Sept. 4 decision, Judge Armendariz found Robertson [bar # 217899], 45,
of Stanford, culpable of moral turpitude by engaging in a scheme to defraud,
misrepresentation, misappropriation and of abusing the legal process.
Armendariz also noted that Robertson has shown no remorse for his behavior,
that he failed to admit any wrongdoing and that his misconduct occurred less
than three years after he was admitted to practice law.

According to the decision, Robertson met then 77-year-old Maryland doctor
William C. Cartinhour Jr. in September 2004 and convinced him to invest in a
class action pending in federal court in New York, telling him it involved a
multibillion-dollar claim. Robertson enticed Cartinhour to make additional
investments, failing to tell him the case had been dismissed in 2005 and that
he had been losing Cartinhour’s money by using it to finance his own
investments.

Concerned he had been cheated, Cartinhour hired another attorney in 2009. After
being questioned by Cartinhour’s new attorney, Robertson filed a lawsuit
against Cartinhour. However, Cartinhour prevailed on a cross-claim for legal
malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty and was awarded $3.5 million in
compensatory damages and $3.5 million in punitive damages in 2011.

In an effort to stall payment of the judgment, Robertson filed frivolous
appeals as well as a meritless petition in bankruptcy court, which resulted in
sanctions, Armendariz found.

“Not only did respondent deprive Cartinhour of his funds for years, but he
continues to harm Cartinhour by prolonging the bankruptcy proceedings and
forcing Cartinhour to remain involved in extensive litigation in order to
enforce the judgment which he obtained against respondent,” Armendariz wrote.
“These unnecessary and protracted legal proceedings have been time-consuming,
costly, and burdensome for Cartinhour and the legal system.”

The State Bar does not keep statistics on attorney misconduct by amount of
misappropriation. However, prosecutors could recall no other misappropriation
cases in recent memory of that magnitude. Last year, Los Angeles attorney, Vafa
Allan Khoshbin [bar# 165486] was
disbarred after misappropriating $1.1 million from 10 clients.